Just some early morning thoughts from me to you…
“This is a time for American heroes. We will do what is hard. We will achieve what is great. This is a time for American heroes, and we reach for the stars.” (The West Wing)
It’s almost as if the morning sunshine knows it is lighting the way into an important week. A week we should all remember. In a few days many of us will stop to remember the worst attack on the United States in our history and the thousands of lives which were lost.
I wonder how many this week will pause to remember.
Recent remembrances of that tragic day on September 11, 2001 seem to be different than those which occurred in the days and early years which followed the attacks of 9/11. News accounts this week will be sparse and lean—unlike the number and content of those delivered nearer in time to that horrific day.
Complacency and apathy seem to rule the day—and neither is worthy of this great Nation and the people who have gone before us. In the face of such attitudes of disregard, especially amongst our elected officials, one could logically wonder if they remember the events of that horrible day at all—or that it could happen again.
But that day, eight years ago, and the evil attacks on our land did occur. And they continue to this day. The current assault is not only occurring from without—through the stifled attempts by growing numbers of terrorist cells around the world and crossing within our borders—but it is also occurring from within the walls of our institutions and the very foundations of our Country.
From policies which allow our safety as a Nation to diminish, to daily apologies given to the world for who we are and have been as a Nation, to wholesale attempts to change or destroy the very foundations of our beginnings to look like other nations across the globe—too many of our elected officials embarrass us all and those who have gone before us with their behavior, lack of leadership, and lack of commitment to this great land, its heritage, and to something other than themselves.
In the absence of any leaders which we can respect, look up to and follow, ground swells of ordinary people are again beginning to carry the message of hope in our future forward, through words, actions, town hall meetings and gatherings pointing the way to a better day. As has been the case in the past, in some of our darkest moments, ordinary citizens have lifted high the torch of liberty for others to follow.
We did not seek nor deserve the attacks on our freedoms or way of life on September 11, 2001. And we most assuredly expected—and deserved to expect—that our leaders would lead our Nation with a sense of duty and honor in these times. America may have lost something on Tuesday, September 11, 2001, but it will never lose the solid foundation of those who have gone before, our heroic heritage, and the One in Whom we have trusted since our inception over 230 years ago.
And in moments like today, the true measure of our Nation’s strength—and each one of us individually and aggregately—is found and demonstrated in how we rise out of the troubles of the day into all we were meant to be by our Creator.
It’s time to rise again—and to remember.
In the midst of all the debate and policies which seek to change who we are as a Nation and people—today is a time to remember.
In the midst of those who would seek to make more and more of our citizens beholding to some form of government—today is a time to remember.
In the midst of a movement seeking to replace a culture of life—where life is viewed as sacred no matter one’s age—with a culture of death, where the value of life is determined by convenience and productivity—today is a time to remember.
Today is a time to remember all those who lost their lives that day in a horrific act of cowardice and war, and all those others who gave their lives that day in noble acts of courage when others needed them. And it’s time once again—in their memory and honor, and in memory and honor of others like them throughout our history—for all of us to step up and decide who we are, and what we stand for as a people, and as a Nation.
In his remarks at the National Day of Prayer and Remembrance on Friday, September 14, 2001 the Reverend Billy Graham called us forth then, and forever when he said…
“Underneath the debris is a foundation that was not destroyed. Now we have a choice: Whether to implode and disintegrate emotionally and spiritually as a people and a Nation, or whether we choose to become stronger through all of this struggle to rebuild on a solid foundation. And I believe that we are in the process of starting to rebuild the foundation. That foundation is our trust in God.”
This is a time for American heroes. We will do what is hard. We will achieve what is great. This is a time for American heroes, and we reach for the stars…
…Together.
In His Name—Scott
